Post by avalon on Oct 24, 2006 7:57:03 GMT 3
tournament site: www.aamiclassic.com.au/
I know it's a long way off, but I'm excited. Three whole weeks of Marat!!!!! [including AO] ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Safin to play Kooyong, Hewitt sticks with Sydney
October 24, 2006 - 1:58PM
Popular Russian Marat Safin will play in Australia for the first time in two years at the AAMI Classic in January.
Safin has not played Down Under since claiming his second grand slam title when he beat Lleyton Hewitt in four sets in the 2005 Australian Open final.
World No.1 Roger Federer and defending champion Andy Roddick have also decided to again fine-tune their Australian Open preparations at the round-robin Classic at Kooyong.
A knee injury which has troubled Safin for most of the last two seasons meant he was unable to defend his Open title earlier this year.
But the 26-year-old is finally back to full fitness and has recently lifted his world ranking to 36.
Safin advanced to his first ATP final in more than year earlier this month before losing to countryman Nikolay Davydenko in the Kremlin Cup decider.
With world No.3 David Nalbandian, No.4 Ivan Ljubicic and Roddick (No.5) in the field, the Classic boasts four of the world's top five players.
Tournament director Colin Stubs said today he had contacted Hewitt to determine his availability.
But the Australian star has once again chosen to use the Medibank International in Sydney as his final lead-up event for the first major of the year, where the other major men's drawcard will be world No.2 Rafael Nadal.
The Classic field at Kooyong also includes Germany's Tommy Haas, rising Scottish star Andy Murray and Czech Radek Stepanek.
With Hewitt unavailable and Stubs not approaching Mark Philippoussis, there will be no local players in the 2007 Classic field.
The event runs from January 10-13.
Main Draw
(1) Roger FEDERER (SUI)
Radek STEPANEK (CZE)
Marat SAFIN (RUS)
(4) David NALBANDIAN ARG)
(3) Andy RODDICK (USA)
Tommy HAAS (GER)
Andy MURRAY (GBR)
(2) Ivan LJUBICIC
I know it's a long way off, but I'm excited. Three whole weeks of Marat!!!!! [including AO] ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Safin to play Kooyong, Hewitt sticks with Sydney
October 24, 2006 - 1:58PM
Popular Russian Marat Safin will play in Australia for the first time in two years at the AAMI Classic in January.
Safin has not played Down Under since claiming his second grand slam title when he beat Lleyton Hewitt in four sets in the 2005 Australian Open final.
World No.1 Roger Federer and defending champion Andy Roddick have also decided to again fine-tune their Australian Open preparations at the round-robin Classic at Kooyong.
A knee injury which has troubled Safin for most of the last two seasons meant he was unable to defend his Open title earlier this year.
But the 26-year-old is finally back to full fitness and has recently lifted his world ranking to 36.
Safin advanced to his first ATP final in more than year earlier this month before losing to countryman Nikolay Davydenko in the Kremlin Cup decider.
With world No.3 David Nalbandian, No.4 Ivan Ljubicic and Roddick (No.5) in the field, the Classic boasts four of the world's top five players.
Tournament director Colin Stubs said today he had contacted Hewitt to determine his availability.
But the Australian star has once again chosen to use the Medibank International in Sydney as his final lead-up event for the first major of the year, where the other major men's drawcard will be world No.2 Rafael Nadal.
The Classic field at Kooyong also includes Germany's Tommy Haas, rising Scottish star Andy Murray and Czech Radek Stepanek.
With Hewitt unavailable and Stubs not approaching Mark Philippoussis, there will be no local players in the 2007 Classic field.
The event runs from January 10-13.
Main Draw
(1) Roger FEDERER (SUI)
Radek STEPANEK (CZE)
Marat SAFIN (RUS)
(4) David NALBANDIAN ARG)
(3) Andy RODDICK (USA)
Tommy HAAS (GER)
Andy MURRAY (GBR)
(2) Ivan LJUBICIC
;D
and blake too 
YIPEEEEEE 
.